Holy crap.  Okay, so imagine the plot of the new Karate Kid.  Now, replace the Beijing setting with Indonesia.  Good, now imagine that the main character isn’t just some kid, it’s a young Barack Obama.  That’s basically the story of Obama Anak Mentang, or Little Obama.  It opens today in Indonesia, where they don’t have to worry about pesky things like political correctness.  What do the Indonesian kids say about little Barry Obama?

“Westerner, but dark colored.  Weird hair.  Big nose.”

Wow.  Okay, but what about the Mr. Miyagi character who teaches Barack Obama to box?  (I don’t know, dude, just go with it).

“Being a new kid here is not easy.  Not with your curly hair.  Not by being so different.”

His mentor also appears to be a gay man. So basically, Indonesian kids make fun of Barack Obama’s curly hair, so a gay man teaches him to box. Now do you understand why I like MMA so much?

Little-Obama-Gay-guy

Here’s a little more information:

Obama Anak Menteng (literally Obama, the Menteng Kid) is a historical novel by Indonesian author Damien Dematra published in March 2010. It is a fictionalized account of the childhood of Barack Obama while living in Indonesia from 1967 to 1971, between the ages of 6 and 11.

Dematra interviewed 30 people prior to writing the novel, which he completed in just four days after one month of research.

The novel has received some criticism for its portrayal of Obama reciting the Qur’an and praying towards Mecca.  Dematra emphasized that while the scenes are true, the story is not about Obama praying. He has not decided whether the scene will appear in the film adaptation.

Dematra said in an interview with Time that the film was “60 percent fact, 40 percent fiction.”

This information is all good to know, but to be honest, I liked it a lot better when I thought it was literally a remake of Karate Kid with Barack Obama as the main character.  As someone who’s terribly racist and not me might say, that’s totally something one of them Asian countries would do.

Little-Obama-Boxing

[Thanks to Oski for the tip]